Title
An Ordinance creating election rules for municipal elections under ranked voting.
Body
Amended Proposed Ordinance 2/1/11
An Ordinance creating election rules for municipal elections under ranked-choice voting.
The Council of the City of Saint Paul does Ordain:
Section 1.
That the Legislative Code of the City of Saint Paul be amended by adding a new Chapter 31:
31.01. Applicability.
This chapter applies to municipal elections for Mayor and Councilmember consistent with Chapter 7 of the Charter
31.02. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this chapter shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section:
Batch elimination means a simultaneous defeat of multiple continuing candidates for whom it is mathematically impossible to be elected.
Chief election official means the city clerk and his or her designee.
Continuing candidate means a candidate who has been neither elected nor defeated.
Exhausted ballot means a ballot that cannot be advanced under section 31.05.
Highest continuing ranking means the ranking on a voter's ballot with the lowest numerical value for a continuing candidate.
Mathematically impossible to be elected means either:
(1) The candidate could never win because his or her current vote total plus all votes that could possibly be transferred to him or her in future rounds (from candidates with fewer votes and tied candidates) would not be enough to surpass the candidate with the next higher current vote total; or
(2) The candidate has a lower current vote total than a candidate who is described by (1).
An overvote occurs when a voter ranks more than one (1) candidate at the same ranking.
Ranked voting means an election method in which voters rank candidates for an office in order of their preference and the ballots are counted in rounds that simulate a series of runoffs until one (1) candidate meets the threshold, or until two (2) candidates remain and the ca...
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